Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 239, August 2026

by Neil Clarke (Editor), Ravn J. Silver (Contributor), Eilis O'Neal (Contributor)

Clarkesworld is a Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning science fiction and fantasy magazine. Each month we bring you a mix of fiction, articles, interviews and art. Our August 2026 issue (#239) contains:

Fiction
• "As the Tide Loves the Diver, As the Diver Loves the Tide" by Ravn J. Silver
• "All the Ruined Doorways of the Moon" by Eilis O'Neal
• "Passenger Pigeons, Dodos, Neanderthals" by Jordan Alexander
• "Piece de Resistance" by D.A. Xiaolin Spires
• "Feed Them on Your Dreams" by E.N. Auslender
• "The Universal Human Happiness Program" by Y.M. Pang
• "When You Give a Dokkaebi Taco Tuesday" by H.H. Pak

Non-Fiction
• "Destination: Saturn" by Andrew Liptak
• "The Minds and Bodies of Robots: A Conversation with James Patrick Kelly" by Arley Sorg
• "What We Want to Leave Behind: A Conversation with Carolyn Ives Gilman" by Arley Sorg
• "Editor's Desk: A European Adventure and More" by Neil Clarke

Cover Art
• "A Visit To The Oracle" by Thomas Brissot

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction

154 pages, Paperback

First published August 3, 2026

About the author

Neil Clarke is best known as the editor and publisher of the Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning Clarkesworld Magazine. Launched in October 2006, the online magazine has been a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine four times (winning three times), the World Fantasy Award four times (winning once), and the British Fantasy Award once (winning once). Neil is also a ten-time finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Editor Short Form (winning once in 2022), three-time winner of the Chesley Award for Best Art Director, and a recipient of the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award. In the fifteen years since Clarkesworld Magazine launched, numerous stories that he has published have been nominated for or won the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Sturgeon, Locus, BSFA, Shirley Jackson, WSFA Small Press, and Stoker Awards.

Additionally, Neil edits  Forever —a digital-only, reprint science fiction magazine he launched in 2015. His anthologies include: Upgraded, Galactic Empires, Touchable Unreality, More Human than Human, The Final Frontier, Not One of Us,  The Eagle has Landed, , and the Best Science Fiction of the Year series. His next anthology, The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Seven will published in early 2023.

He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and two sons.

Reviews

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 3 out of 5]

An average issue, with interesting stories by Ravn J. Silver, D.A. Xiaolin Spires and H.H. Pak.

- "As the Tide Loves the Diver, As the Diver Loves the Tide" by Ravn J. Silver: the story of a person who 'dives' into a data archive to try to retrieve information from a reluctant system that cut off access after a global catastrophe. The archive is intrigued by the diver's attempt, but their final confrontation may lead to 'forbidden' information being retrieved.

- "All the Ruined Doorways of the Moon" by Eilis O'Neal: a wife and husband purchase a property on the moon, which comes with a fake artifact left behind by aliens that have left the moon. But the wife is bored with playing the 'perfect wife' for the husband and wants to resume her studies, which the husband objects. In the end, her desire to be free and a discovery about the artifact may give her a way to leave her 'perfect' life.

- "Passenger Pigeons, Dodos, Neanderthals" by Jordan Alexander: an Earth person is on Mars, as part of an Endangered Species Initiative. Here, the endangered species are humans after devastating the Earth, and now hopes to move to Mars. But the Mars people (descendants of the first colonisers before the devastation) treat him with disdain, and he comes to realise what people like him actually mean to the Martians.

- "Piece de Resistance" by D.A. Xiaolin Spires: the co-inventor of an energy shield finds her invention used in an unexpected way: as a way to stop food being eaten while an ad plays. Hoping to give her mother an ad-free meal, she hatches a plan to 'borrow' an ad-blocker developed by the same company showing the ads. But her plan may cause a change in the way ads for food are displayed.

- "Feed Them on Your Dreams" by E.N. Auslender: a rather sad story of an unplanned boy raised in isolation in a room on a corporate space station. He is educated and cared for by the AI library. The boy grows up and invents a faster way to get around the solar system. In return, he wants to be able to leave his room. The ending reveals just what he actually is to the corporation that runs the station.

- "The Universal Human Happiness Program" by Y.M. Pang: the story of a grim future, where much of humanity lives in dream worlds, looked over by the few supervisors. One supervisor cares so much for his dreamers, that he considers ways to override the machines and wake up humanity to live in the real world, despite the terrible conditions. But that decision may have been taken out of his hands.

- "When You Give a Dokkaebi Taco Tuesday" by H.H. Pak: the unusual story of a 'spirit creature' from a faraway land, bought to another country in a broom carried along by its owner, an old man. At night the creature leaves the broom to socialise with other creatures from other lands. The creature still resides in the broom for it has been tasked to curse the man and his descendants; but it is tired of its job and only observes the old man. But one day, it is forced to take action and curse the old man; but the curse may be a secret blessing.

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite this month was Passenger Pigeons, Dodos, Neanderthals, for its portrayal of cultural hegemony, and the unique pain of being an object of study for those around you.

All the Ruined Doorways of the Moon was also excellent, it’s a rare story that both leaves me wanting so much more about its world and yet feeling it ended precisely where it had to.

[Thia Reads A Lot]

I don't know if reading magazines is still fun for me anymore. No story in this issue really stand out for me.

[Felix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really nice set of stories!
Passenger Pigeons, Dodos, Neanderthals was my favorite one, but I think there was no weak story for me this time :)

[Shyan · Rating 4.25 out of 5]

There are things worse than extinction.

Such beautiful, elegant writing in Ravn J. Silver’s “As the Tide Loves the Diver, As the Diver Loves the Tide” and Eilis O’Neal’s “All the Ruined Doorways of the Moon.” The imagery of spectral green moths fluttering, and hushed offscreen violence of the latter is particularly effective.

I also thought the premise of H.H. Pak’s “When You Give a Dokkaebi Taco Tuesday” was really funny and clever, while Jordan Alexander executed what appears to be at first a more basic idea really powerfully in “Passenger Pigeons, Dodos, Neanderthals.”

I understood now. I was an artifact, and my life was their dig site. What did it matter to them whether I lived or died? Thye’d get to study my bones either way.